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In a case study, seven different procurement chains of forest energy in Sweden were modelled and the environmental performance was calculated from a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) perspective. The systems differed with respect to geographical location, the technology employed and resource use (stumps or logging residues). The energy output/input ratio of chips from residues and stumps was in the range 21-48, and the greenhouse gas emissions were 1.5-3.5 g CO₂-eq/MJ chips. The systems in southern Sweden were generally more efficient than similar systems in northern Sweden. The forest energy systems based on bundles and stumps rely on immature technologies which have the potential to be improved should there be technical developments of the systems.

A number of long-term population-based studies have tried to study fruit and vegetable consumption in relation to cardiovascular disease, cancer and total mortality. Few of these studies are based on randomly selected population samples. The aim of the study was to investigate the long-term effect of fruit and vegetable consumption on mortality, cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular death, cancer morbidity and cancer death among middle-aged and elderly men. Prospective cohort study. General community. The Study of Men Born in 1913. 792 men at age 54 who participated in a screening examination in 1967. A food frequency questionnaire was used to obtain information of the dietary habits in 730 of the men (92%). All men were followed up with repeated examinations until the age of 80. Cardiovascular as well as total mortality was significantly lower among men with high fruit consumption in univariate analysis. There was no correlation between fruit or vegetable consumption in relation to cancer incidence, cancer death and cardiovascular disease. In multivariate survival analysis where smoking, cholesterol and hypertension were taken into account, there was a significantly lower mortality among men with a high fruit consumption during 16 y follow up until the age of 70 (P=0.042), but this finding was no longer statistically significant during 26 y follow-up at the age of 80 (P=0.051). Daily fruit consumption seems to have positive effect on long-term survival independently of other traditional cardiovascular risk factors like smoking, hypertension and cholesterol. This study was supported by grants from the Swedish Medical Research Council (K98-274-06276-17) King Gustav V and Queen Victoria's Foundation, and the Göteborg University.

The influence from different grain boundary configurations on the crack growth rate of a microstructurally short edge crack, located within one grain and subjected to remote fatigue loading, is studied. The study is performed using a dislocation formulation, were the geometry is described by dislocation dipole elements in a boundary element approach and the plasticity by discrete dislocations, located along specific slip planes in the material. Plane strain and quasi-static conditions are assumed. The crack is assumed to grow in a single shear mechanism due to nucleation, glide and annihilation of discrete dislocations. Different grain boundary configurations in front of the growing crack are considered, including both high angle and low angle grain boundaries. It is shown that both grain boundary configuration and distance between the crack and a grain boundary has a pronounced influence on the crack growth rate.

The aim of this work has been to develop a technical support enabling home-based motor training after stroke. The basis for the work plan has been to develop an interactive technical solution supporting three different groups of stroke patients: (1) patients with stroke discharged from hospital with support from neuro team; (2) patients with stroke whose support from neuro team will be phased out and (3) patients living with impaired motor functions long-term. The technology has been developed in close collaboration with end-users using a method earlier evaluated and described [12]. This paper describes the main functions of the developed technology. Further, results from early user-tests with end-users, performed to identify needs for improvements to be carried out during further technical development. The developed technology will be tested further in a pilot study of the safety and, usefulness of the technology when applied as a support for motor training in three different phases of the post-stroke rehabilitation process. 

Climate change mitigation trade-offs between increasing harvests to exploit substitution effects versus accumulating forest carbon sequestration complicate recommendations for climate beneficial forest management. Here, a time dynamic assessment ascertains climate change mitigation potential from different rotation forest management alternatives across three Swedish regions integrating the forest decision support system Heureka RegWise with a wood product model using life cycle assessment data. The objective is to increase understanding on the climate effects of varying the forest management. Across all regions, prolonging rotations by 20% leads on average to the largest additional net climate benefit until 2050 in both, saved emissions and temperature cooling, while decreasing harvests by 20% leads to the cumulatively largest net climate benefits past 2050. In contrast, increasing harvests or decreasing the rotation period accordingly provokes temporally alternating net emissions, or slight net emission, respectively, regardless of a changing market displacement factor. However, future forest calamities might compromise potential additional temperature cooling from forests, while substitution effects, despite probable prospective decreases, require additional thorough and time explicit assessments, to provide more robust policy consultation.

Background Severe electrocardiographic (ECG) abnormalities in asymptomatic subjects correlate with cardiovascular risk. Hypothesis The role of minor ECG abnormalities is less well‐known. We evaluated the association between a negative T‐wave and mortality, as a possible marker for prognosis. Methods A prospective, population‐based cohort, examined at 50 years, and followed until death. Time to death (event rates) and predictive role of a negative T‐wave (Cox regression) were analyzed. Results Participants (n = 839) with a negative T‐wave (7.3%) had significantly higher blood pressure (BP) (mean systolic 157.9 mmHg vs 136.8 mmHg without negative T‐wave, P = <.0001). A negative T‐wave correlated with elevated risk (hazard ratio [HR] [95% CI] [confidence interval]) for all‐cause and cardiovascular (CV) death (1.59 (1.20‐2.11) P = .0012 vs 1.91 (1.34‐2.73) P = .0004). The association remained after excluding coexisting Q/QS patterns and ST‐junction/segment depression ECG abnormalities (1.66 [1.13‐2.44] P = .0098 for all‐cause vs 1.87 [1.13‐3.09] P = .015 for CV death). Death from other causes was not associated with a negative T‐wave. A major negative T‐wave carried higher risk than a minor (2.17 [1.25‐3.76] P = .0062 vs 1.78 [1.13‐2.79] P = .012) for CV death. Conclusion A negative T‐wave at 50 years, in asymptomatic individuals, carried an increased risk of all‐cause and CV death during lifetime follow‐up.

Existing studies on cognitive impairments in chronic pain do not investigate peripheral neuropathic pain (PNP) or compare pain conditions in a satisfactory manner. Here we aimed to compare executive dysfunctions in PNP patients with fibromyalgia (FM) and healthy controls (HC). Patients who self-reported cognitive impairments were assessed according to criteria for PNP or FM. Seventy-three patients met criteria and completed testing on executive functioning and IQ measures. We also included twenty matched healthy controls. Regression models controlling for age, sex and IQ, tested associations between group category (PNP, FM or HC) and outcomes. If a substantial association was detected, we followed up with head-to-head comparisons between PNP and FM. Multivariate regression models then tested associations between executive functioning and pain type, controlling for significant confounders. Results from head-to-head comparison between pain conditions showed significant differences on years lived with pain (FM > PNP), the use of anticonvulsants (PNP > FM) and use of analgesics (PNP > FM). When controlled for all significant differences, PNP patients had significantly lower scores on an attention-demanding cued-recall task compared to FM. Poor performance on attention-demanding cued-recall task was associated with PNP, which translate into problems with retaining fast-pace or advanced information.

Background, aim, and scope Carbon footprint (CF) has become a hot topic as public awareness of climate change is placing demands on manufacturers to declare the climate impact of their products. Calculating the CF of food products is complex and associated with unavoidable uncertainty due to the inherent variability of natural processes. This study quantifies the uncertainty of a common food product and discusses the results in relation to different types of CF systems for food product labelling. Materials and methods A detailed LCI with global warming potential as the only impact category was performed on King Edward table potatoes grown in the Östergötland region of Sweden. Parameters were described using one probability distribution for spatial and temporal variation and one separate distribution describing measuring/data uncertainty, allowing the effect of parameter resolution on CF uncertainty to be studied. Monte Carlo simulation was used to quantify the overall uncertainty. The influence of individual parameters on the CF was analysed and differences in CF for food products from different production systems, with and without climate impact reduction rules, were simulated. Results The potato CF fell in the range 0.10–0.16 kg CO 2 e per kilogram of potatoes with 95% certainty for an arbitrary year and field. Emissions of N 2 O from soil dominated the CF uncertainty. Locking the temporal variation to a specific year lowered the uncertainty range by 19%. Parameter collection on a spatial scale of one field did not reduce the uncertainty. The most sensitive parameters were the yield, the soil humus content and the emissions factors for N 2 O emissions from soil. Potatoes grown according to climate rules lowered the CF by 9% with a probability of 53% for an arbitrary year and field. Discussion The importance of yield, which proved to be the most influential parameter, is a common characteristic of agricultural products in general, since the accumulated emissions from a cultivated area are divided across the yield from that area. Maximising the yield reduces the CF but could have negative impacts on other environmental aspects. The purpose of the CF labelling scheme, together with uncertainty analysis, needs to be considered when determining how the CF should be calculated, as an average or for a specific year, farm, field, region, etc. Conclusions The CF of a potato crop calculated for an arbitrary year and field varied between approximately -17% and +30% of the average value with 95% certainty, showing that uncertainty analysis in the design, calculation and evaluation of food product CF labelling schemes is important to ensure fair comparisons. Recommendations and perspectives Similar studies comparing different production systems for the same type of product and products from different categories, on large and small scale depending on the purpose of the CF system, are needed in order to determine how the CF of food products can be compared and the precision with which data have to be collected in order to allow fair and effective comparison of the CF of food products.

Locally produced bioenergy can decrease the dependency on imported fossil fuels in a region, while also being valuable for climate change mitigation. Short‐rotation coppice willow is a potentially high‐yielding energy crop that can be grown to supply a local energy facility. This study assessed the energy performance and climate impacts when establishing willow on current fallow land in a Swedish region with the purpose of supplying a bio‐based combined heat and power plant. Time‐dependent life cycle assessment (LCA) was combined with geographic information system (GIS) mapping to include spatial variation in terms of transport distance, initial soil organic carbon content, soil texture and yield. Two climate metrics were used [global warming potential (GWP) and absolute global temperature change potential (AGTP)], and the energy performance was determined by calculating the energy ratio (energy produced per unit of energy used). The results showed that when current fallow land in a Swedish region was used for willow energy, an average energy ratio of 30 MJ MJ−1 (including heat, power and flue gas condensation) was obtained and on average 84.3 Mg carbon per ha was sequestered in the soil during a 100‐year time frame (compared with the reference land use). The processes contributing most to the energy use during one willow rotation were the production and application of fertilizers (~40%), followed by harvest (~35%) and transport (~20%). The temperature response after 100 years of willow cultivation was −6·10−16 K MJ−1 heat, which is much lower compared with fossil coal and natural gas (70·10−16 K MJ−1 heat and 35·10−16 K MJ−1 heat, respectively). The combined GIS and time‐dependent LCA approach developed here can be a useful tool in systematic analysis of bioenergy production systems and related land use effects.

Purpose Calculating the carbon footprint (CF) of food is becoming increasingly important in climate change communication. To design effective CF labelling systems or reduction measures, it is necessary to understand the accuracy of the calculated CF values. This study quantified the uncertainty in the CF of wheat and of a common refined wheat-based product, pasta, for different resolutions of farm-level in-data to gain an increased understanding of the origins and magnitude of uncertainties in food CFs. Methods A ‘cradle-to-retail’ CF study was performed on Swedish pasta and wheat cultivated in the region of Skåne on mineral soils. The uncertainty was quantified, using Monte Carlo simulation, for wheat from individual farms and for the mixture of wheat used for pasta production during a year, as well as for the pasta production process. Results and discussion The mean pasta CF was 0.50 kg CO 2 e/kg pasta (0.31 kg CO 2 e/kg wheat before the milling process). The CF of wheat from one farm could not be determined more accurately than being in the range 0.22–0.56 kg CO 2 e/kg wheat, even though all farm-level primary data were collected. The wheat mixture CF varied much less, approximately ±10–20% from the mean (95% certainty) for different years. Reducing farm-level data collection to only the most influential parameters—yield, amount of N and regional soil conditions—increased the uncertainty range by between 6% and 19% for different years for the wheat mixture. The dominant uncertainty was in N 2 O emissions from soil, which was also the process that contributed most to the CF. Conclusions The variation in the wheat mix CF uncertainty range was greater between years, due to different numbers of farms being included for the different years, than between collecting all farm-level primary data or only the most influential parameters. More precise methods for assessing soil N 2 O emissions are needed to decrease the uncertainty significantly. Recommendations Due to the difficulties in calculating accurate values, finding other ways of differentiating between producers than calculating numerical CFs might be more fruitful and fair. When legislation requires numerical CF values, CF practitioners have little option but to continue using existing methods and data collection strategies. However, they can provide input on improvement, contribute to standardisation processes and help raise awareness and knowledge of the associated uncertainty in the data through studies like this one.